Method and apparatus for providing event of portable device having flexible display unit

ABSTRACT

A portable terminal is provided. The portable terminal includes a flexible display disposed on a front surface of the portable terminal and extending to a side surface of the portable terminal, the flexible display unit including a main display area on the front surface, and an auxiliary display area on the side surface; a sensor that detects a state of the portable terminal; and a controller that selectively outputs event information on the main display area or the auxiliary display area of the flexible display unit according to the detected state of the portable terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No.10-2012-0002968, filed on Jan. 7, 2012 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate toa portable terminal and a method of operating the same, and moreparticularly, to a portable terminal having a flexible display unit, anda method of operating the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

With recent development of digital technologies, various portableterminals, which can communicate and process personal information whilemoving, such as a mobile communication terminal, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), an electronic organizer, a smart phone, and a tabletPC, etc., are being introduced. Such a portable terminal has variousfunctions such as a voice call function, message transmission includinga short message service (SMS) and a multimedia message service (MMS), avideo call function, an electronic organizer function, a photographingfunction, e-mail transmission and reception, a broadcast replayfunction, an Internet function, a music replay function, a schedulemanagement function, a social network service, a messenger service, adictionary function and a game function, etc.

Further, portable terminals are becoming ubiquitous. Hence, in publicplaces where noise by the portable terminal should be restricted (e.g.,a conference room, a classroom and a library, etc.), a user usually setsthe portable terminal in silent mode. Even in a situation where theterminal is set in silent mode, when an alarm event such as a callreception or a message reception, etc. is generated, the display unitcan be turned on. In such a case, user may turn off the portableterminal, or may cover the terminal, put the terminal upside down, orhide the terminal, etc. At this time, since the user cannot check theportable terminal, the user cannot recognize even an urgent alarm event.That is, in case a call or a message is received in a situation wherethe display of the portable terminal is not used (e.g., the terminal isplaced upside down or the display unit is covered, etc.), the receivedinformation cannot be appropriately transmitted to the user.

SUMMARY

One or more exemplary embodiments provide a portable terminal capable ofextending the display area to the side as well as the front byimplementing a flexible display in a portable terminal, and a method ofprocessing an event using the same.

One or more exemplary embodiments also provide a portable terminalhaving a flexible display unit, which may divide the flexible displayunit into a main display area of the front and an auxiliary display areaof the side, and output event information of an alarm event, and amethod of processing an event using the same.

One or more exemplary embodiments also provide a portable terminalhaving a flexible display unit, which may support an output of eventinformation by silent alarm mode by extending the flexible display unitto the side of the portable terminal body, and a method of processing anevent using the same.

One or more exemplary embodiments also provide a portable terminalhaving a flexible display unit, which may output event information of analarm event using an auxiliary area of the flexible display unit byturning the portable terminal state to silent alarm mode according tothe state of the portable terminal when an alarm event is generated, andmethod of processing an event using the same.

One or more exemplary embodiments also provide a portable terminalhaving a flexible display unit, which may process an output of eventinformation of an alarm event using an auxiliary display area of theflexible display unit by supporting the change to silent alarm modebased on the menu setting, and a method of processing an event using thesame.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided aportable terminal including: a flexible display unit disposed on a frontsurface of the portable terminal and extending to a side surface of theportable terminal, the flexible display unit including a main displayarea on the front surface, and an auxiliary display area on the sidesurface; a sensor that detects a state of the portable terminal; and acontroller that selectively outputs event information on at least one ofthe main display area and the auxiliary display area of the flexibledisplay unit according to the detected state of the portable terminal.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method for processing an event of a portable terminalincluding a main display area formed on a front surface of the portableterminal, and an auxiliary display area formed on a side surface of theportable terminal, the method including: determining a state of theportable terminal; changing a mode of the portable terminal into asilent alarm mode when the main display area is not being used;receiving an alarm event in the silent alarm mode; and outputting eventinformation according to the alarm event on the auxiliary display area.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method for processing an event of a portable terminalincluding a main display area formed on a front surface of the portableterminal, and an auxiliary display area formed on a side surface of theportable terminal, the method including: receiving an alarm event;determining a state of the portable terminal when receiving the alarmevent; determining whether to enter a silent alarm mode according to thedetermined state of the portable terminal; and outputting eventinformation according to the alarm event on the auxiliary display areawhen entering the silent alarm mode.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a computer readable recording medium storing a program forexecution by a portable terminal including a flexible display unitincluding a main display area and an auxiliary display area, the programconfigured to function as a unit that selectively outputs eventinformation according to an alarm event on at least one of the maindisplay area and the auxiliary display area of the flexible display unitaccording to a state of the portable terminal.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method for processing an event of a portable terminalincluding a flexible display area including a main display area formedon a front surface of the portable terminal, and an auxiliary displayarea formed on a side surface of the portable terminal, the methodincluding: receiving event information in a silent alarm mode; detectinga state of the portable terminal; and selectively outputting eventinformation on at least one of the main display area and the auxiliarydisplay area of the flexible display area according to the detectedstate of the portable terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects will be more apparent from the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a portable terminal having a flexible displayunit according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a constitution of a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate an example of utilizing an auxiliary displayarea of the flexible display unit in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 illustrate an operation example of providing eventinformation using an auxiliary display area according to an implementedtype of the flexible display unit in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of event information output in anauxiliary display area of a flexible display unit according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operating a flexibledisplay unit for a state change of a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operating a flexibledisplay unit for an alarm event in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operating a flexibledisplay unit for event information in a portable terminal according toan exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates an operation of detecting the positionof a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings in detail. The same reference numbers are usedthroughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Detaileddescriptions of well-known functions and structures incorporated hereinmay be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the presentdisclosure.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments, in a situation when themain display area of the front of the portable terminal is not used(e.g., a situation when the main display area of the front surface iscovered by other objects (e.g., a case of a portable terminal and anotebook, etc.), or the front surface is directed downward by contactingthe surface of a table, etc.), if an alarm event occurs, eventinformation for the alarm event may be provided through an auxiliarydisplay area on a side surface of the portable terminal. The alarm eventmay include, for example, an event such as a call reception, a messagereception (e.g., a message reception based on a short message service(SMS)/multimedia message service (MMS)), an e-mail reception, aninformation reception of a push service, or an alarm reception of asocial network service (SNS), etc. However, these are only non-limitingexamples. It will be appreciated that an alarm event may be any event ofwhich a user would desire to be informed.

To this end, according to one or more exemplary embodiments, both endsof a portable terminal are made in a bent form, and the portableterminal comprises a flexible display unit integrally including a maindisplay area of the front surface of the portable terminal and anauxiliary display area of the side surface of the portable terminal, asensor that detects the state of the portable terminal, and a controllerthat detects the state of the portable terminal at the time of an alarmevent occurrence, and controls the flexible display unit to output eventinformation using at least one of the main display area and theauxiliary display area of the flexible display unit. Moreover, accordingto one or more exemplary embodiments, a conversion of operation modeinto silent alarm mode may be selected by a setting on the portableterminal.

FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a portable terminal having a flexible displayunit according to an exemplary embodiment.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment includes a flexible display unit 100, a main body200 on which the flexible display unit 100 is mounted, and an additionaldevice which is formed on the main body 200 and performs a function ofthe portable terminal, etc. In FIGS. 1 to 3, the additional device mayinclude a speaker 301, a microphone, a sensor, such as an illuminationsensor 303 and/or and a front surface camera module 305, etc., and oneor more physical buttons, etc.

The flexible display unit 100 is a bendable display device, and may bebent or rolled without damage through a substrate that is thin andflexible like paper. Since such a flexible display unit 100 uses aplastic substrate, rather than a generally used glass substrate, theflexible display unit 100 may be formed using a low temperaturemanufacturing process, rather than a conventional manufacturing process,so that the substrate is not damaged. The flexible display unit 100 usesa plastic film in a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode(LED), an organic LED, and an active matrix OLED (AMOLED), etc., therebygiving flexibility to the flexible display unit 100, such that theflexible display unit is capable of being folded and unfolded. Such aflexible display unit 100 is not only thin and light, and strong againstoutside impact, but also may be bent and be manufactured in variousforms.

The flexible display unit 100 includes an active matrix screen of acertain screen size (e.g., 3 inches, 4 inches, 4.65 inches, 5 inches,6.5 inches, and 8.4 inches, etc.) according to the size of the portableterminal, and may be extended to at least one side surface (e.g., atleast one of the left, right, upper and lower side surfaces) of theportable terminal, be folded to less than the radius of curvature (e.g.,5 cm, 1 cm, 7.5 mm, 5 mm, and 4 mm, etc.), in which the flexible displayunit 100 may be operated, and be coupled with the side surface of themain body 200. The display area shown on the front surface of theflexible display unit 100 is called a main display area 110 of the frontsurface, and the display area, which is extended from the main displayarea, is bent to at least one of the side surfaces of the main body 200,and is shown on the side surface of the main body 200, is called anauxiliary display area 120 of the side surface.

The main display area 110 and the auxiliary display area 120 have beendistinguished for the convenience of explanation, and at least one endof the main display area 110 and the auxiliary display area 120 is bent,and may be implemented by one flexible display unit 100 whose at leastone bent end is extended to at least one side surface of the portableterminal, or may be implemented by one flexible display unit 100 whoseat least one bent end is extended to the rear side surface of theportable terminal. Hence, the display area of the front surface of theportable terminal is called the main display area 110 and the displayarea on the side surface of the portable terminal is called theauxiliary display area 120. That is, the main display area 110 of thefront surface of the portable terminal and the auxiliary display area120 of the side surface of the portable terminal are implemented by oneintegrally formed flexible display unit 100.

Likewise, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the flexible display unit 100 isdivided into the main display area 110 of the front surface and theauxiliary display area of the side surface, and may provide an alarmevent using the auxiliary display area 120. In a situation where themain display area 110 of the front surface of the portable terminal isnot used, when an alarm event occurs, event information for the alarmevent may be provided through the auxiliary display area 120 of the sidesurface. One example of such a situation may include when the maindisplay area of the front surface is covered by an object, as shown inFIG. 3 where a case 800 of the portable terminal covers the portableterminal, or for example a notebook, etc. Another example of a situationmay include where the front surface is directed downward by contactingthe surface of the table, etc.

For example, the portable terminal may be turned upside down for ameeting. That is, may the state of the portable terminal may be changed,for example, by making the main display area 110 directed downward tocontact the surface of the table. Further, the main display area 110 maybe covered by putting the portable terminal in a separate case 800 asshown in FIG. 3, or the main display area 110 may be covered using anotebook, etc.

The portable terminal may detect the state of the portable terminalusing the sensor. The state of the portable terminal may be detected byan illumination sensor that detects a change of the amount of light, anoperation sensor (e.g., a geomagnetic sensor and an acceleration sensor,etc.) that detects the position of the portable terminal, or a timer,etc. Here, as the sensor, a plurality of sensors (e.g., sensor 1, sensor2, and sensor 3, etc.) may be integrated in one chip, or a plurality ofsensors may be implemented as separate chips.

For example, the portable terminal may determine the current stateaccording to an illumination value detected by the illumination sensor.The portable terminal may also determine the current state according tothe position information (e.g., values measured for X-axis, Y-axis andZ-axis) detected by the operation sensor. Further, the portable terminalmay determine the current state according to the current time detectedby the timer. The case where the timer is used may correspond to anoperation that determines whether the current time of the portableterminal corresponds to the time which has been set by user as silentalarm mode automatic execution, and enters silent alarm mode if thecurrent time corresponds to the user-set time.

Hereinafter, it is described that first the illumination value isdetermined by the illumination sensor, and if the measured illuminationvalue satisfies predetermined criteria (e.g., the main display area 110is covered as the above, and the value is less than a certain presetvalue), the state where the portable terminal is placed is determined bythe additional operation sensor, and the operation of determining theoutput direction of the auxiliary display area 120 according to thestate is illustrated. However, according to an exemplary embodiment, theportable terminal may be set to be operated according to only one of thesensors, or may be set to be operated the combination of three or moresensors.

Further, as a result of determination by the value measured based on thesensor, if it is determined that the portable terminal is in the statewhere the main display area 110 is not used (e.g., the reversed state,or the state where the main display area 110 is covered, etc.), it isdetermined that the portable terminal is in the silent alarm mode. Ifthe illumination sensor detects the illumination change and transmits anelectronic signal corresponding thereto to the controller, thecontroller may compare the transmitted signal with a preset value, andthereby the state of the portable terminal may be determined. At thistime, in case the illumination value by the illumination sensor is lessthan a preset value, the controller may determine that the portableterminal has entered the silent alarm mode, and changes the operationmode. For example, assuming that the brightest illumination measured bythe illumination sensor is 100, the darkest illumination is 0, and apreset standard illumination is 30, in case the illumination measured bythe illumination sensor is the same as or less than the standard value30, it is determined that the portable terminal has entered the silentalarm mode.

The silent alarm mode corresponds to a mode that prohibits the output ofevent information by the main display area 110 of the front surface, andallows the output of the event information by the auxiliary display area120 of the side surface. Furthermore, in the silent alarm mode, a screenoutput may be performed and the sound output and vibration output may beprohibited, which may be variously defined according to settings of theportable terminal. The event information output based on the auxiliarydisplay area 120 may be performed by outputting the event information onthe main display area 110 in one color (e.g., black color), or the powerof the main display area 110 may be separated from that of the auxiliarydisplay area 120 so that the power supply to the main display area 110is blocked.

Further, a right hand mode and a left hand mode of the portable terminalmay be defined using the environment setting provided in the portableterminal or a separate application. Further, when the right hand mode orthe left hand mode is set, the portable terminal may operate theauxiliary display area 120 of only the side surface corresponding to thedetermined mode. For example, in case the portable terminal is set tothe right hand mode in FIG. 1, event information is output through theauxiliary display area 120 of the right side surface, and in case theportable terminal is set to the left hand mode, the event information isoutput through the auxiliary display area 120 of the left side surface.

The portable terminal may receive an alarm event after changing into thesilent alarm mode. The alarm event may include a call reception, amessage reception, an information reception of a push service, a mailreception and an alarm reception of an SNS, etc. as explained above.When receiving an alarm event in the silent alarm mode, the portableterminal may output event information according to the alarm event basedon the auxiliary display area 120 of the side surface. Here, the outputof the event information may be continually output until an input to theportable terminal is received (e.g., a cancellation input), or may beoutput for a preset period of time (e.g., 1 second, 3 seconds, and 5seconds, etc.) and then stopped.

When receiving the alarm event at the silent alarm mode, the portableterminal may determine the type of the alarm event, and extract eventinformation according to the type of the determined alarm event.Further, the extracted event information may be processed in the formwhich may be displayed in the auxiliary display area 120, and theinformation may be outputted. For example, when determining acall-related alarm event, calling information (e.g., a phone number) isbe extracted, and the extracted calling information and event processingmethod is compared with the user definition. Further, the callinginformation is processed to be the event information according to apriority (e.g., important or common) which is set for the callinginformation, and the event information is output on the auxiliarydisplay area 120.

Further, when determining a message alarm event, at least one of thecalling information (e.g., a phone number) and message content may beextracted, and the extracted calling information may be compared withthe user definition of the event processing method. Further, at leastone of the calling information and message content may be processed intothe event information according to the priority (e.g., important orcommon) which is preset for the calling information, and the eventinformation may be outputted in the auxiliary display area 120.

Further, the method of processing the alarm event has been illustratedin the above based on the calling information, but according to anexemplary embodiment, the processing method for the alarm event for eachevent type may be determined. That is, the priority may be setindividually for each alarm event such as a call reception, a messagereception, an information reception of a push service, an e-mailreception, and an alarm reception of an SNS, etc., and accordingly,event information may be outputted by processing to be different typesof event information.

Further, event information, which is intended to be outputted throughthe auxiliary display area 120, may be processed differently accordingto the event type in the form of at least one of a calling number, acaller's name, message content (e.g., a scroll function support), anicon (an icon distinguished according to a call, a message, an e-mail, apush service, and an SNS, etc.), and a color (displaying the whole orpart of the auxiliary display area 120 differently according to thepreset priority), etc. Such a method of outputting event informationwill be described later with reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the constitution of a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a portable terminal includes a communication module310, a flexible display unit 100, a sensor 330, a storage 350, and acontroller 390. Further, the portable terminal may further comprise anaudio processor including, for example, a microphone and a speaker, adigital broadcast module configured to receive a digital broadcast(e.g., a mobile broadcast such as a digital multimedia broadcasting(DMB) and a digital video broadcasting (DVB)), a camera configured tophotograph a static image and a dynamic image of an object, at least onelocal wireless communication module configured to support acommunication function based on a local wireless communication method,such as, for example, a Bluetooth communication, an infrared dataassociation (IrDA) communication, a radio frequency identification(RFID) communication and a near field communication (NFC), etc., aninput unit configured to support an input based on, for example, a hardkey or a soft key, and a battery for supplying power to the abovecomponents, etc., but the explanation thereof is omitted here forclarity.

The communication module 310 is configured to communicate with anexternal server or another portable terminal through a communicationnetwork. The communication module 100 may include, for example, a radiofrequency (RF) module for supporting a mobile communication service suchas a voice call, an image call and data communication, etc. based on themobile communication. Further, the communication module 100 may supportan Internet communication service such as a voice call, an image calland a data communication, etc. based on an Internet protocol (IP). Inparticular, the communication module 100 may receive an alarm event froman external server or another portable terminal. Further, thecommunication module 100 is not limited to a certain communicationmodule and communication method, but may be implemented by various formsof communication modules so that the mobile device may communicate withthe external server or another mobile device.

The flexible display unit 100 may display a screen related with theoperation state of the portable terminal. For example, the display unit100 may display a home screen, a menu screen, a call sending/receivingscreen, a message writing/receiving screen, a chatting screen, and/oreach execution screen according to the execution of an application ofthe portable terminal. The flexible display unit 100 is divided into amain display area 110 of the front surface of the portable terminal andan auxiliary display area 120 of the side surface of the portableterminal, and event information may be output according to an alarmevent such as a call reception, a message reception, an informationreception according to a push service, and an information receptionaccording to an SNS, etc. through the auxiliary display area 120. Anexample of operating an auxiliary display area 120 of the flexibledisplay unit 100 will be described later.

Further, according to an exemplary embodiment, an LCD is used as theflexible display unit 100, but other display devices such as an LED, anOLED, and AMOLED, etc. may also be used. Further, the flexible displayunit 100 may include an interface which supports a touch-based input.For example, the flexible display unit 100 may support touch-basedvarious user inputs by the constitution of a touch screen, may generatean input signal according to a user input, and may transmit thegenerated input signal to the controller 390. Further, when displayingvarious screens as explained above, the flexible display unit 100 maysupport a display of a screen by a horizontal mode according to arotational direction (or placed direction) of the portable terminal, adisplay of a screen by a vertical mode according to the rotationaldirection (or placed direction) of the portable terminal, and a displayof an adaptive screen conversion according to a change between thehorizontal mode and the vertical mode.

The sensor 330 may detect at least one of various changes such as aposition change, illumination change and acceleration change, etc., andtransmit the corresponding electrical signal to the controller 390. Thatis, the sensor 330 may sense a state change of the portable terminal,generate a sensing signal according thereto, and transmit the generatedsignal to the controller 390. The sensor 330 may comprise varioussensors. When operating the portable terminal (or based on a setting ofthe portable terminal), as long as power is supplied to at least onesensor which is set according to the control of the controller, thestate change of the portable terminal may be sensed. According to anexemplary embodiment, the state change of the portable terminal may bedetected by always operating the sensor 330. Alternatively, the sensor330 may be operated according to a predefined setting of the portableterminal, an alarm event detection time point, or a manual operation.

Such a sensor 330 may include at least one of any type of sensing devicewhich may detect the state change of the portable terminal. For example,the sensor 330 may comprise at least one of an acceleration sensor, agyro sensor, an illumination sensor, a proximity sensor, a pressuresensor, a noise sensor (e.g., a microphone), a video sensor (e.g.,camera module), or a timer, etc.

As a way to detect various environments (e.g., the state where the frontsurface of the portable terminal contacts the surface of the table(turned-upside-down state), or the state where the main display area 120is covered by the case 800 of the portable terminal) which do not usethe main display area 110, an operation of at least one combination ofan illumination sensor and an acceleration sensor, etc. is illustratedaccording to an exemplary embodiment. However, other combinations ofsensors or a single sensor may be used. That is, the state of theportable terminal may be detected using one or more sensors. Here, it isassumed that the sensor 330 is the acceleration sensor, and theoperation of detecting the position of the portable terminal will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 15.

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates an operation of detecting the positionof a portable terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 15, in case an alarm event is received by thecommunication module 310, power is supplied by the control of thecontroller 390, and the sensor 330 measures a position of the portableterminal. The position of the portable terminal may be detected byalways operating the sensor 330. Further, the sensor 330, particularlythe acceleration sensor, may be operated after detecting an alarm event.

It is illustrated that the sensor 200 uses the acceleration sensor fordetection of the position of the portable terminal. In a case in whichthe sensor 200 is the acceleration sensor, detection of the portableterminal by the illumination sensor may be omitted. In such a case, whenthe portable terminal is turned upside down and the main display area ofthe front surface of the portable terminal contacts the surface of thetable, such an operation is possible. However, even when the maindisplay area of the front surface of the portable terminal is directedupward and the rear side of the portable terminal contacts the surfaceof the table, such an operation is possible. As such, any placementconfiguration of the portable terminal may be detected by measuring theillumination of the portable terminal using the illumination sensor andmeasuring the position of the portable terminal for operation of theauxiliary display area 120. Hereinafter, a specific example of measuringthe position of the portable terminal by the acceleration sensor will bedescribed.

The sensor 330 may generate an electrical signal by measuring theacceleration of the portable terminal, and transmit the generatedelectrical signal to the controller 390. For example, assuming the casewhere the sensor 330 is a tri-axial acceleration sensor, thegravitational acceleration for each of X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis may bemeasured. In particular, the sensor 330 measures acceleration which isthe result of the movement acceleration plus the gravitationalacceleration, but if the portable terminal is not moved, only thegravitational acceleration may be measured. For example, it is assumedthat the state where the front surface of the portable terminal isdirected upward is the positive (+) direction of the gravitationalacceleration, and the state where the rear surface of the portableterminal is directed upward is the negative (−) direction of thegravitational acceleration.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, in case the rear surface of the portableterminal is placed to contact the flat surface, X-axis and Y-axiselements of the gravitational acceleration measured by the sensor 330are both measured as 0 m/sec², and only the Z-axis element is measuredas a positive value (e.g., +9.8 m/sec²). In contrast, in case the frontsurface of the portable terminal is placed to contact the flat surface,X-axis and Y-axis of the gravitational acceleration measured by thesensor 330 are measured as 0 m/sec², and the Z-axis element may bemeasured as a certain negative value (e.g., −9.8 m/sec²).

Further, assuming that the portable terminal is placed diagonally withthe surface of the table, the gravitational acceleration measured by thesensor 330 is measured as a value in which the value of at least oneaxis is not 0 m/sec², and at this time, the square root of the sum ofthe squares of the elements of three axes, i.e., the size of the vectorsum, may be a certain value (e.g., 9.8 m/sec²). In the above case, thesensor 330 senses each acceleration for X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axisdirections in the coordinate system. Further, each axis and thegravitational acceleration thereof may be changed according to theattached position.

In case the gravitational acceleration transmitted from the sensor 330is measured by at least one axis element, the position of the portableterminal may be checked (calculated) using the gravitationalacceleration for each axis. The position may be indicated by a rollangle (Φ), a pitch angle (θ), and a yaw angle (Ψ). The roll angle (Φ)indicates a rotation angle around X-axis, the pitch angle (θ) indicatesa rotation angle around Y-axis, and the yaw angle (Ψ) indicates arotation angle around Z-axis. In the case of an example illustrated inFIG. 15, if the gravitational acceleration of the Z-axis transmittedfrom the sensor 330 is +9.8 m/sec², the position of the portableterminal indicates that the roll angle and the pitch angle correspond to0, and thus it is seen that the rear surface of the portable terminal,which receives the gravitational acceleration of Z-axis, is placed in agravitational direction. Any position of the portable terminal may besensed through the above method, and a position detector that detectsthe position of the portable terminal may be additionally implemented.

The controller 390 may determine the position of a portable terminalusing an algorithm such as, for example, a position calculationalgorithm using a Euler angle, a position calculation algorithm using anextended Kalman filter, and an acceleration-predicting switchingalgorithm, etc. That is, a method of measuring the position of theportable terminal using an accelerometer, etc. may be implemented invarious manners.

Referring to FIG. 4 again, the storage 350 is configured to storevarious applications and data which are processed in the portableterminal, and may comprise one or more nonvolatile memories and volatilememories. The storage 350 may comprise at least one of a read onlymemory (ROM), a flash memory, a random access memory, an internal harddisk drive, an external hard disk drive, or an external storage medium,etc. Further, the storage 350 may continually or temporarily store theoperating system of the portable terminal, a program and data relatedwith the display control operation of the flexible display unit 100,detection of the state of the portable terminal using the sensor 330 anda program and data related to the control operation according thereto.In particular, the storage 350 may store setting information 370 relatedto the main display area 110 and the auxiliary display area 120 of theflexible display unit 100.

The setting information 370 may include, for example, standard conditioninformation for determining whether the value measured by the sensor 330(particularly, the illumination sensor) satisfies conditions forentering the silent alarm mode, priority information which is set foreach event type or each set of sending information for determining theoutput method of the event information of the auxiliary display area120, operation mode information for operating right hand mode or lefthand mode, information for the completion of the output of the eventinformation (e.g., a continuous output until a user interaction isinputted, or an output for a preset period of time, etc.), andinformation about the operation method of the sensor 330 for the silentalarm mode (e.g., a sensor to be used and an event condition for eachsensor). The setting information 370 may be implemented as at least onemapping table.

The controller 390 controls a general operation of the portableterminal. The controller 390 may control operation related with theoperation of the event information output based on the silent alarm modefor an alarm event using a flexible display unit 100 in an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. That is, in the flexible displayunit 100, which is divided into the main display area 110 of the frontsurface and the auxiliary display area 120 of the side surface, thecontroller 390 may control the output of the event information of thealarm event using the auxiliary display area 120.

For example, the controller 390 may determine the state of the portableterminal based on the sensor 330 regardless of the generation of analarm event, determine the entrance of the silent alarm mode accordingto the determined state of the portable terminal, and control the outputof the event information of the alarm event based on the auxiliarydisplay area 120 for the alarm event generated at the silent alarm mode.Further, the controller 390 may determine the state of the portableterminal at the time point when generation of an alarm event isdetected, determine whether the portable terminal has entered the silentalarm mode according to the determined state of the portable terminal,control the output of the event information of the alarm event based onthe auxiliary display area 120 when entering the silent alarm mode.Further, the controller 390 may operate the silent alarm mode based onthe timer regardless of whether an alarm event has occurred. Forexample, the controller 390 may determine whether the portable terminalhas entered the silent alarm mode by determining the current time of theportable terminal. For example, when the current time belongs to apredefined time range (e.g., midnight or a certain period of time), theentrance of the silent alarm mode may be determined. Further, the outputof the event information of the alarm event may be controlled based onthe auxiliary display area 120 for the alarm event which is generated atsilent alarm mode.

Further, when outputting the event information on the auxiliary displayarea 120, the output method of the event information may be determinedaccording to a priority, which is set for each alarm event, and apriority, which is set for each set of sending information, and theevent information may be outputted according to the determined method.Further, the controller 390 may adaptively control the display directionof the event information of the auxiliary display area 120 according tothe state of the portable terminal.

Further, the controller 390 may control various operations related withthe general function of the portable terminal in addition to thefunction. For example, the controller 390 may control the operation andthe screen display when executing a certain application. Further, thecontroller 390 may receive an input signal corresponding to varioustouch interaction inputs supported in the input interface based on atouch, and may control the function operation according thereto.Further, the controller 390 may control transmission and reception ofvarious sets of data based on wired or wireless communication.

The portable terminal shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented on informationcommunication device, multimedia device or application device whichsupport the function according to one or more exemplary embodiments. Forexample, the portable terminal may include devices such as a mobilecommunication terminal operated according to each of communicationprotocols corresponding to various communication systems, a tabletpersonal computer, a smart phone, a digital camera, a portablemultimedia player (PMP), a media player, a portable game console, and apersonal digital assistant (PDA), etc.

FIGS. 5 to 7 illustrate an example of using an auxiliary display area ofthe flexible display unit in a portable terminal according to anexemplary embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a screen example is shown in which the frontsurface of the portable terminal is shown, and event information 400 isoutput in the auxiliary display area 120 of the flexible display unit100. FIG. 6 illustrates a screen example where the rear surface of theportable terminal is shown, and the event information 400 is output onthe auxiliary display area 120 of the flexible display unit in the statewhere the front surface of the portable terminal contacts the surface ofthe table, and FIG. 7 illustrates an operation of outputting eventinformation 400 by adaptively converting (rotating) the displaydirection of the event information within the auxiliary display area 120according to the state where the portable terminal is placed.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, the display direction of the eventinformation within the auxiliary display area 120 of the flexibledisplay unit 100 may be the forward direction regardless of the statewhere the portable terminal is placed. For example, in the state wherethe front surface of the portable terminal is directed upward, in casethe rear surface comes to be directed upward again, or in the statewhere the rear surface of the portable terminal is directed upward, incase the front surface comes to be directed upward again, the eventinformation 400 may be rotated accordingly (e.g., 180 degrees) so thatuser may always see the event information in the auxiliary display areaof portable terminal in the forward direction. Further, in case theportable terminal is placed diagonally at a preset angle (e.g., 30degrees and 120 degrees, etc.) based on the state where the frontsurface of the portable terminal is directed upward, the rotationaldirection of the event information within the auxiliary display area 120may be determined according to a preset angle as described above. Forexample, in case the preset angle is 30 degrees, the direction of thedisplay of the event information within the auxiliary display area maycorrespond to the state where the front surface is directed upward, andin case the preset angle is 120 degrees, the direction of the display ofthe event information within the auxiliary display area 120 maycorrespond to the state where the rear surface is directed upward.Likewise, the rotation of the event information 400 according to thestate where the portable terminal is placed may detect the state wherethe portable terminal is placed based on the acceleration sensor of thesensor 330 as described above, and the output method of the eventinformation may be determined accordingly.

For example, when detecting an alarm event, the controller 390 maydetermine whether the portable terminal has entered the silent alarmmode based on the illumination sensor of the sensor 330. When it isdetermined that the portable terminal has entered the silent alarm mode,the state (position and direction) where the portable terminal is placedmay be determined based on the acceleration sensor of the sensor. Asshown in FIG. 5, the surface, where there are additional devices such asa speaker 301, an illumination sensor 303, a front surface camera module350, and the main display area 120, is called the front surface, and asshown in FIG. 6, the surface, where there are a rear surface cameramodule 500 and a battery cover 550, etc., is called the rear surface.

In case the front surface of the portable terminal is directed upward asshown in FIG. 5, the event information 400 is directly outputted withoutrotation through the auxiliary display area 120, and in case the frontsurface directed downward as shown in FIG. 6, the event information 400may be rotated by 180 degrees, and may be output through the auxiliarydisplay area 120.

Further, in the state like an example as shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, incase the state of the portable terminal is converted from one state tothe opposite state, the display direction of the event information 400of the auxiliary display area 120 may be adaptively rotated anddisplayed. At this time, while the event information 400 is outputtedbased on the auxiliary display area 120, when the position information,which indicates that the front surface and the rear surface of theportable terminal are turned upside down from the sensor 330, isdetected, the controller 390 may control the conversion of the displaydirection of the event information 400.

The case of using the auxiliary display area 120 according to the statewhere the portable terminal is placed has been illustrated in FIGS. 5 to7, but such an operation is possible even in case the portable terminalis contained in the case 800 of the portable terminal as shown in FIG.3.

FIGS. 8 to 10 illustrate an operation example of providing eventinformation using an auxiliary display area 120 according to animplemented type of the flexible display unit 100 in a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 8 to 10, FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a casewhere the auxiliary display area 120, which is extended to the side ofthe main body 200 of the portable terminal, is implemented to cover anentire end of the side of the main body 200, and FIG. 9 illustrates anexample of a case where the auxiliary display area 120, which isextended to the side of the portable terminal, is implemented up tocover only a part of the side of the main body 200. FIG. 10 illustratesan example for explaining a method of outputting event information 400according to the type in which the auxiliary display area 120 isimplemented in the portable terminal.

As illustrated most clearly in FIG. 10, assuming that the height (thesize of the vertical direction) of the auxiliary display area 120, whichis extended to the side of the main body 200, is “H”, the eventinformation 400 may be differently processed according to the height H(the size of the vertical direction). For example, the event information400 (e.g., sending information, message content, information of the pushservice, and the text such as an alarm of an SNS) and an eventidentifying item 450 (e.g., an icon for identifying an event type (atext-type icon and/or an image-type icon), a color border, and a colorbar, etc.), which are extracted according to the height H of theauxiliary display area 120, may be selectively displayed.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, in case the height H of the auxiliary displayarea 120 is larger than or the same as the minimum display size A fordisplaying text (e.g., H=7 mm and A=6 mm), the event information 400 maybe indicated by one or a combination of the text and the eventidentifying item 450. In contrast, as illustrated in FIG. 9, in case theheight H of the auxiliary display area 120 is smaller than the minimumdisplay size A for displaying text (e.g., H=6 mm and A=7 mm), thedisplay of the text may be omitted, and the event information 400 may bedisplayed by one or a plurality of combinations of event identifyingitems 450. The minimum display size A may determined experimentally.

That is, according to an exemplary embodiment, the event information 400and the event identifying item 450 may be selectively displayedaccording to the height H of the auxiliary display area 120.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the auxiliary display area 120 may displayevent information 400 in consideration of the height H of the auxiliarydisplay area 120, the minimum size h for displaying a color borderimplemented on the outer side of the text among event identifying items450, and the minimum size A for displaying the text. Here, the minimumsize A for displaying the text may be defined as the gap 2 a between thetext size T and the auxiliary display area 120, i.e., “A=T+2 a”. The gap2 a of the auxiliary display area 120 includes the upper gap a and thelower gap a, and may be determined according to the radius of curvatureof the flexible display unit 100. While the upper gap a and the lowergap a are shown as the same height in FIG. 10, the upper gap and thelower gap alternatively may be different heights. In FIG. 10, the lowergap among auxiliary display areas 120 may be omitted. For example, incase the auxiliary display area 120 is extended only part way into theside surface of the main body 200 of the portable terminal, the lowergap may be omitted, and in case the auxiliary display area 120 isextended to the bottom surface of the portable terminal, the lower gapmay be generated according to the radius of curvature. In FIG. 10, thecase where both the upper gap and the lower gap are included isillustrated for the convenience of explanation. In the case of theexample of reference numeral 801, a case is illustrated in which theheight H of the auxiliary display area 120 is larger than or the same asthe minimum size A (A=T+2 a) for displaying the text, and the minimumsize A for displaying the text is larger than or the same as the minimumsize h for displaying the color border. That is, an example of a case isillustrated in which the height H of the auxiliary display area 120 islarger than all other elements (e.g., H>=A>h), particularly when theheight H of the auxiliary display area 120 is larger or the same as theminimum size A for displaying the text. In such a case, at least one ofthe event information 400 (e.g., a text of calling information, messagecontent, information of a push service, and an SNS alarm, etc.) and theevent identifying item 450 (e.g., an icon for identifying an event type(a text-type icon, and an image-type icon), a color border and a colorbar, etc.) may be selectively displayed according to a setting of theportable terminal.

The example of reference numeral 803 shows a case where the height H ofthe auxiliary display area 120 is larger than or the same as the minimumsize A (A=T+2 a) for displaying the text, and is smaller than or thesame as the minimum size h for displaying the color border. That is, theexample shows the case where the height H of the auxiliary display area120 contains all other sizes or is the size between the sizes (e.g.,h≧H≧A), particularly the case where the height H of the auxiliarydisplay area 120 is larger than or the same as the minimum display size,but is smaller than the minimum size h for displaying the color border.In this case, the event information 400 (e.g., a text of callinginformation, message content, information of a push service, and an SNSalarm, etc.) and part of the event identifying item 450 may beselectively displayed according to a setting of the portable terminal.Part of the event identifying item 450 may contain at least one of anicon for identifying an event type and a color bar except a colorborder.

The example of reference numeral 805 shows a case where the height H ofthe auxiliary display area 120 is smaller than the minimum size A (A=T+2a) for displaying a text, and the minimum size A for displaying the textis smaller than the minimum size h for displaying a color border. Thatis, the example shows a case where the height H of the auxiliary displayarea 120 has a smaller size (e.g., H<A<h) than all the other sizes,particularly the height H of the auxiliary display area 120 is smallerthan the minimum size A for displaying a text. In such conditions, thedisplay of the event information 400 (e.g., a text of callinginformation, message content, information of a push service, and an SNSalarm, etc.) is omitted in the auxiliary display area 120, and part ofthe event identifying item 450 may be selectively displayed. Part of theevent identifying item 450 may include at least one of the icon foridentifying the event type (e.g., an image type icon) and a color baraccording to a setting of the portable terminal.

The above may be summarized as follows.

(1) In case the height H of the auxiliary display area 120 is largerthan or the same as the minimum size A for displaying a text, at leastone of the event information 400 and a part of the event identifyingitem 450 (particularly, at least one of an icon for identifying an eventtype and a color bar except a color border) may be displayed accordingto a setting of the portable terminal.

(2) In case the height H of the auxiliary display area 120 is a sizebetween the minimum size A for displaying a text and the minimum size hfor displaying a color border, at least one of the event information 400and a part of the event identifying item 450 (particularly, at least oneof an icon for identifying an event type and a color bar except a colorborder) may be displayed according to a setting of the portableterminal.

(3) In case the H of the auxiliary display area 120 is smaller than theminimum size A for displaying a text is, the event identifying item 450(particularly, at least one of an icon for identifying an event type anda color bar according to a setting of the portable terminal) may bedisplayed.

For example, in the case of the above (1), as illustrated in referencenumeral 801 of FIGS. 8 and 10, when an alarm event occurs, the type ofthe alarm event (e.g., a call, a message, an e-mail, a push service, oran SNS, etc.) may be determined, and the event information 400 (e.g., atext-based calling information, caller information, message content,push service alarm content, or SNS alarm content, etc.) may be extractedfrom the alarm event. Further, at least one of various event identifyingitems 450 (e.g., an icon for identifying an event type (a text-type iconand an image-type icon), a color border or a color bar, etc.) may bedetermined according to the type of the alarm event and the prioritywhich is set thereto. Thereafter, the event information 400 and theevent identifying item 450 may be displayed together. In the case of theabove method (1), it is possible that only one of the event information400 and the event identifying item 450 is selectively displayedaccording to a setting of the portable terminal.

In the case of the above method (2), as illustrated in reference numeral803 of FIG. 10, when an alarm event occurs, an alarm event type (e.g., acall, a message, an e-mail, a push service, or an SNS, etc.) may bedetermined, and the event information 400 (e.g., a text-based callinginformation, caller information, message content, push service alarmcontent, or SNS alarm content, etc.) may be extracted from the alarmevent. Further, at least one of various event identifying items 450(e.g., an icon for identifying an event type (a text-type icon and animage-type icon), a color border or a color bar, etc.) may be determinedaccording to the type of the alarm event and the priority which is setthereto. Thereafter, the event information 400 and the determined eventidentifying item 450 may be displayed together. In the case of the abovemethod (2), it is possible that one of the event information 400 and theevent identifying item 450 is selectively displayed according to asetting of the portable terminal.

In the case of the above method (3), as illustrated in FIG. 9 andreference numeral 805 of FIG. 10, when an alarm event occurs, an alarmevent type (e.g., a call, a message, an e-mail, a push service, or anSNS, etc.) may be determined, and an event identifying item(particularly, an icon for identifying an event type (an image-typeicon) or a color bar) mapped to the determined alarm event type may beextracted. Further, it is also possible that only the event identifyingitem 450 (e.g., a color bar) according to the priority of the alarmevent type (or calling information) is extracted. Further, at least oneextracted event identifying item 450 may be displayed.

Further, the height of the auxiliary display area 120, the minimum sizeA for displaying a text, the gap a of the auxiliary display area 120 andthe size T for displaying the text, and the minimum size h fordisplaying the color border may be respectively defined. For example,the sizes of the portable terminal may be respectively defined accordingto the type of portable terminal in which the flexible display unit 100is implemented.

Hereinafter, an example of a specific operation that outputs eventinformation of an alarm event using the auxiliary display area 120 willbe described with reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 illustrates event information outputted in the auxiliary displayarea 120 of the flexible display unit 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 11, with respect to event information about an alarmevent, at least one of a text and an event identifying item may bedisplayed through the auxiliary display area 120. At this time, theevent information output through the auxiliary display area 120 may bedisplayed by one of a text or an event identifying item, or acombination thereof according to the height of the auxiliary displayarea 120 as considered above. Further, the event information outputthrough the auxiliary display area 120 may be provided in variouscombinations according to a setting of the portable terminal.

For example, as illustrated in reference numeral 901, a received alarmevent is a call reception, and a text-type icon for identifying the typeof the alarm event like “Call:” among the event identifying items 450,and event information 400 like “010-1234-5678 Mother” may be providedtogether through the auxiliary display area 120.

As illustrated in reference numeral 903, the received alarm event is acall reception, and among event identifying items 450, a text-type iconfor identifying the type of the alarm event like “Call:”, eventinformation 400 like “010-1234-5678 Mother”, and a color border foralarming the priority which is set for the alarm event by being formedin a certain form (e.g., a square form and an elliptic form, etc.) whichsurrounds the outer block of the text-type icon and the eventinformation, may be provided together through the auxiliary display area120. The color border may be provided in a color, which is distinguishedaccording to each priority, such as red, yellow and blue, etc. accordingto the priority (important, common and bookmark, etc.) according to asetting of the portable terminal. For example, assuming the case a highpriority is set for a calling number of “010-1234-5678” according toimportance in reference numeral 903, the color border based on the redcolor may be provided. In case there is no priority setting for thegenerated alarm event, the screen may be provided without a separateborder as shown in reference numeral 901, or the border of a certaincolor (e.g., a black color) may be provided.

As illustrated in reference numeral 905, the received alarm event may bea call reception, and among event identifying items 450, an image-typeicon for identifying the type of the alarm event like “

”, event information 400 like “010-1234-5678 Friend 1”, and a colorborder for alarming the priority which is set for the alarm event bybeing formed in a certain form (e.g., a square form and an ellipticform, etc.) which surrounds the outer block of the image-type icon andthe event information 400, may be provided together through theauxiliary display area 120. The color border may be provided in a color,which is distinguished according to each priority, such as red, yellowand blue, etc. according to the priority (important, common andbookmark, etc.) according to a setting of the portable terminal. Forexample, assuming the case a high priority is set for a calling numberof “010-1234-5678” according to the bookmark in reference numeral 905,the color border based on the blue color may be provided.

As illustrated in reference numeral 907, the received alarm event is amessage reception, and among event identifying items 450, an image-typeicon for identifying the type of the alarm event like “

”, event information 400 like “Come home early!!”, and a color borderfor alarming the priority which is set for the alarm event by beingformed in a certain form (e.g., a square form and an elliptic form,etc.) which surrounds the outer block of the image-type icon and theevent information 400, may be provided together through the auxiliarydisplay area 120. The color border may be provided in a color, which isdistinguished according to each priority, such as red, yellow and blue,etc. according to the priority (important, common and bookmark, etc.)according to a setting of the portable terminal. For example, assumingthe case a high priority is set for a message according to the commonorder in reference numeral 907, the color border based on the yellowcolor may be provided. In case there is no priority setting for thegenerated alarm event as in a spam message, the screen may be providedwithout a separate border item as shown in reference numeral 901, or theborder of a preset certain color (e.g., a black color) may be providedaccording to a setting of the portable terminal.

In the case of reference numerals 909 and 911, the height of theauxiliary display area 120 may be smaller than the minimum text displaysize, or a color bar may be provided according to a setting of theportable terminal. As illustrated in reference numerals 909 and 911,different types of color bars may be displayed according to the receivedalarm event, and color bars of different colors may be displayedaccording to the priority which is set for the received alarm event. Forexample, in the case of the alarm event of a call reception, a straightline bar type may be used as shown in reference numeral 909, and the barmay be displayed in a color corresponding to the preset priority.Further, in the case of an alarm event of a message reception, a bartype of a dotted line may be used as shown in reference numeral 911, andthe bar may be displayed in a color corresponding to the presetpriority. Further, various types may be provided in addition toreference numerals 909 and 911 according to a setting of the portableterminal. For example, an image-type icon and a color bar may beprovided in a combined form, or a received alarm event may beconstituted to be displayed on the entire area or partial area of theauxiliary display area 120 according to the importance or conditionsaccording to a setting of the portable terminal.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a flexibledisplay unit 100 for the state change of a portable terminal accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 may correspond to a case where silentalarm mode is predefined by user. For example, when a user participatesin a meeting, etc., the user may set the environment of the portableterminal to the predefined state for silent alarm mode. For example,user may put the portable terminal so that the front surface of theportable terminal contacts the surface of a table like a desk. Further,user may put the portable terminal so that the front surface is directedupward, and the main display area 110 is covered by the case 800 of theportable terminal. Here, at least one sensor 330 such as an illuminationsensor or an acceleration sensor may be operating for changing to silentalarm mode, or a sensor 330 may be operated by a manual operation ofuser.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, the controller 390 may detect a positionchange (or illumination change) of the portable terminal as consideredabove (1001). For example, the user may place the portable terminal onthe surface like a desk. Then the controller 330 may detect the changeof the position (or illumination change) of the portable terminal basedon the measured value obtained from a sensor 330 like an illuminationsensor or acceleration sensor.

When detecting the position change (illumination change) of the portableterminal, the controller 390 may compare the change with preset positioninformation (or illumination information) (1003). The comparison maycorrespond to an operation for determining whether the detected positionchange (or illumination change) satisfies conditions for entering asilent alarm mode.

The controller 390 may determine whether the state change of theportable terminal is for changing into silent alarm mode by comparisonof the position information (or illumination information) (1005). Forexample, if the position information (or illumination information)corresponds to predefined setting information, changing into silentalarm mode is determined, and if the information does not correspond topredefined setting information, processing according general mode isdetermined.

If change into silent alarm mode is determined (Yes in operation 1005),the controller 390 may change the current operation mode into silentalarm mode (1007). Further, when changing into silent alarm mode, thecontroller 390 may turn off the main display area 110 and operate theflexible display unit 100 based on the auxiliary display area 120(1009).

If it is determined that the state change is not for changing intosilent alarm mode (No in operation 1005), the current operation mode ofthe portable terminal is maintained (1011). If the current operationmode of the portable terminal corresponds to silent alarm mode, thecontroller 390 may convert the operation mode into general mode (1007).Further, the controller 390 may control operation of a flexible displayunit 100 by selection of at least one of the main display area 110 andthe auxiliary display area 120 (1013).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a flexibledisplay area 100 for an alarm event in a portable terminal according toan exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of confirming the state (illumination andposition, etc.) of the portable terminal when an alarm event occurs fromthe outside, and processing operation by silent alarm mode and operationby general mode according to the state of the portable terminal.Further, in FIG. 13, a sensor 330 for determining the state of theportable terminal for changing into silent alarm mode may be operated atthe time of occurrence of an alarm event.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, the controller 390 may detect an occurrenceof an alarm event among various alarm events as considered above (1101).For example, the controller 390 may detect the occurrence of an alarmevent according to a call reception, a message reception, an informationreception of a push service, an e-mail reception, or an informationreception of an SNS, etc.

The controller 390 may determine an event processing method according tothe alarm event when detecting occurrence of the alarm event (1103 and1105). For example, the controller 390 may check the state of theportable terminal through the sensor 330 as considered above, anddetermine one of event processing by silent alarm mode or eventprocessing by general mode according to the state of the portableterminal. That is, the controller 390 may determine whether to operatethe silent alarm mode by states of the portable terminal when an alarmevent occurs. Further, when an alarm event occurs, the controller 390may determine whether to enter the silent alarm mode by determining thecurrent time of the portable terminal. For example, the controller 390may determine whether to operate the silent alarm mode of the portableterminal by determining whether the current time belongs to apredetermine time (e.g., midnight or a certain time period).

If the state of the portable terminal is determined as an eventprocessing by silent alarm mode (Yes in operation 1105), the auxiliarydisplay area 120 is activated (1107), and the event information iscontrolled to be output on the auxiliary display area 120 (1109). Here,when an alarm event occurs, the state of the portable terminal is firstdetermined by an illumination sensor or acceleration sensor of thesensor 330, and it is determined whether to enter the silent alarm modeaccording to the state of the portable terminal. Further, when enteringthe silent alarm mode, the position of the portable terminal is checkedsecondarily by the acceleration sensor of the sensor 330, and thedirection of the display of the event information is determinedaccording to the position of the portable terminal.

If the state of the portable terminal is determined as an eventprocessing by general mode (No in operation 1105), at least one of themain display area 110 and the auxiliary display area 120 may beselectively activated (1111). Further, the controller 390 may outputevent information on the activated display area (1113).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of aflexible display unit 100 for event information in a portable terminalaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of determining an output method of eventinformation for an alarm event while the silent alarm mode is operated,and processing an output of event information according to thedetermined output method.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, as considered above, the controller 390 maydetermine an event type according to the alarm event when processing thegenerated alarm event by silent alarm mode (1201). For example, thecontroller 390 may determine the type to which the alarm event belongs,among various event types such as a call reception, a message reception,an information reception of a push service, an e-mail reception or aninformation reception of an SNS, etc. The event type may be identifiedby checking the header of the transmitted data according to the event.

When determining the event type, the controller 390 may determine theevent output (alarm) method according to the determined event type(1203). For example, as described with reference to FIG. 11, thecontroller 390 may determine an event identifying icon (e.g., atext-type icon and an image-type icon, etc.) corresponding to the eventtype, an output by one or combination of event information and an eventidentifying item, and/or whether to apply colors by priorities for eventidentifying items, etc.

When the event output method is determined, the controller 390 mayprocess event information according to the determined event outputmethod (1205). For example, the controller 390 may process eventinformation by combining the information with the event identifying itemaccording to the determined event output method so that the informationmay be output in the form of one of the methods described in thedescription with reference to reference numerals 901 to 911 of FIG. 11.

The controller 390 may output processed event information using theauxiliary display area 120 (1207). The controller 390 may determinewhether to rotate the event information to be displayed on the auxiliarydisplay area 120 by checking the position of the portable terminal, andif it is determined that the event information should be rotated, thecontroller 390 may rotate the event information by 180 degrees, andprovide the rotated event information to the auxiliary display area 120.

The foregoing method for providing an event of portable device having aflexible display unit may be implemented in an executable programcommand form by various computer means and be recorded in a computerreadable recording medium. In this case, the computer readable recordingmedium may include a program command, a data file, and a data structureindividually or a combination thereof. The program commands recorded ina recording medium may be specially designed or configured or be knownto a person having ordinary skill in a computer software field. Thecomputer readable recording medium may include Magnetic Media such ashard disk, floppy disk, or magnetic tape, Optical Media such as CompactDisc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) or Digital Versatile Disc (DVD),Magneto-Optical Media such as floptical disk, and a hardware device suchas ROM. RAM, flash memory storing and executing program commands.Further, the program commands may include a machine language codecreated by a complier and a high-level language code executable by acomputer using an interpreter. The foregoing hardware device may beconfigured to be operated as at least one software module to perform anoperation as described above, and vice versa.

As described above, according to a method and apparatus for providing anevent of a portable terminal having a flexible display unit describedabove, as a flexible display unit, whose two ends are bent, is extendedto the side of the portable terminal, the display area may be easilyextended. Further, the flexible display unit may be divided into themain display area of the front and the auxiliary display area of theside, and an alarm event may be supported using the auxiliary displayarea. As such, even in a situation when user cannot use the main displayarea of the front, it is possible to more intuitively check eventinformation based on the auxiliary display area.

According to exemplary embodiments, when an alarm event occurs, thestate of the portable terminal is checked, and it is possible to processan event information output of the occurred alarm event at the modecorresponding to the checked state. For example, if the state of theportable terminal corresponds to various situations where the maindisplay area of the flexible display unit is not used, i.e., silentalarm mode, event information according to the alarm event is outputtedusing the auxiliary display area of the flexible display unit, and ifthe state of the portable terminal corresponds to a situation where themain display area is used, i.e., general mode, event informationaccording to the alarm event may be output through at least one displayarea based on a setting of the portable terminal among the main displayarea and the auxiliary display area. As such, various responses to analarm event such as a call reception, a message reception, a pushservice reception and/or an SNS alarm reception, etc. are possible,thereby improving user convenience. Further, the present inventiveconcept may be implemented in all types of portable terminals andvarious devices corresponding thereto. Further, optimal environments foran output of event information by states of the portable terminal may beimplemented, thereby improving usability, convenience andcompetitiveness of the portable terminal.

Although exemplary embodiments have been described in detailhereinabove, it should be clearly understood that many variations andmodifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught which mayappear to those skilled in the present art will still fall within thespirit and scope of the present inventive concept, as defined in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable terminal comprising: a flexibledisplay unit disposed on a front surface of the portable terminal andextending to a side surface of the portable terminal, the flexibledisplay unit including a main display area on the front surface, and anauxiliary display area on the side surface; a sensor that detects astate of the portable terminal; and a controller that selectivelyoutputs event information on at least one of the main display area andthe auxiliary display area of the flexible display unit, according tothe detected state of the portable terminal.
 2. The portable terminal ofclaim 1, wherein the controller outputs the event information on theauxiliary display area in a format based on the detected state of theportable terminal.
 3. The portable terminal of claim 2, wherein, whenthe controller outputs the event information, the controller determineswhether to rotate the event information according to the state of theportable terminal.
 4. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein thecontroller determines whether to enter a silent alarm mode according tothe detected state of the portable terminal.
 5. The portable terminal ofclaim 2, wherein the controller determines a display direction in whichthe event information is displayed within the auxiliary display areabased on the detected state of the portable terminal, and outputs theevent information on the auxiliary display area in the determineddisplay direction.
 6. The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein thecontroller outputs event information of the alarm event in the auxiliarydisplay area when receiving an alarm event in a silent alarm mode. 7.The portable terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller determineswhether to enter a silent alarm mode according to the detected state ofthe portable terminal at a time of receiving an alarm event, and outputsevent information of the alarm event on the auxiliary display area. 8.The portable terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller outputs theevent information on the auxiliary display area by displaying at leastone of a calling number, a caller's name, a message content, anidentifying icon for the event of the event information, and an item ina color according to a preset priority.
 9. The portable terminal ofclaim 2, wherein the controller outputs the event information to theauxiliary display area by displaying at least one of the eventinformation and an event identifying item in case a height of theauxiliary display area is larger than or the same as minimum thresholdsize for displaying text.
 10. The portable terminal of claim 2, whereinthe controller outputs the event information on the auxiliary displayarea by displaying at least one of the event information and a part ofan event identifying item in case a height of the auxiliary display areais between a threshold size for displaying text and minimum thresholdsize for displaying a color border.
 11. The portable terminal of claim2, wherein the controller outputs the event information on auxiliarydisplay area by displaying the event information based on a part of anevent identifying item in case a height of the auxiliary display area issmaller than minimum threshold size for displaying a text.
 12. Theportable terminal of claim 1, where at least one surface of theauxiliary display area is coupled with at least one side surface of theportable terminal, and at least one surface of the auxiliary displayarea is extended to a rear surface of the portable terminal.
 13. Amethod for processing an event of a portable terminal including a maindisplay area provided on a front surface of the portable terminal, andan auxiliary display area provided on a side surface of the portableterminal, the method comprising: determining a state of the portableterminal; changing a mode of the portable terminal into a silent alarmmode when the main display area is not being used; receiving an alarmevent in the silent alarm mode; and outputting event informationaccording to the alarm event on the auxiliary display area.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising determining whether to enter thesilent alarm mode according to the state of the portable terminal. 15.The method of claim 14, wherein outputting event information comprisesdetermining a display direction in which the event information is to bedisplayed within the auxiliary display area according to the state ofthe portable terminal in the silent alarm mode, and outputting the eventinformation on the auxiliary display area in the determined displaydirection.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the silent alarm modeprohibits output of the event information on the main display area, andsupports only output of the event information on the auxiliary displayarea.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein outputting the eventinformation on the auxiliary display area comprises outputting one colorto the main display area, or blocking a power supply to the main displayarea by separating a power supply route to the main display area from apower supply route to the auxiliary display area.
 18. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the alarm event comprises a call reception, a messagereception, an information reception of a push service, an e-mailreception, and an alarm reception of a social networking service. 19.The method of claim 18, wherein the event information is output on theauxiliary display area by displaying at least one of a calling number, acaller's name, a message content, an identifying icon for the event ofthe event information, and an item in a color according to a presetpriority on the auxiliary display area.
 20. The method of claim 16,wherein the event information is continually output until an action isinput to the portable terminal by the user, or the event information isoutput for a preset amount of time.
 21. The method of claim 13, whereinthe event information is output to the auxiliary display area bydisplaying at least one of the event information and an eventidentifying item in case a height of the auxiliary display area islarger than or the same as minimum threshold size for displaying text onthe auxiliary display area.
 22. The method of claim 13, wherein theevent information is output on the auxiliary display area by displayingat least one of the event information and a part of an event identifyingitem in case a height of the auxiliary display area is between athreshold size for displaying text and minimum threshold size fordisplaying a color border on the auxiliary display area.
 23. The methodof claim 13, wherein the event information is output on the auxiliarydisplay area by displaying the event information based on a part of anevent identifying item in case a height of the auxiliary display area issmaller than minimum threshold size for displaying a text on theauxiliary display area.
 24. The method of claim 13, wherein at least onesurface of the auxiliary display area is coupled with at least one sidesurface of the portable terminal, or at least one surface of theauxiliary display area is extended to the rear side surface of theportable terminal.
 25. A method for processing an event of a portableterminal including a main display area provided on a front surface ofthe portable terminal, and an auxiliary display area provided on a sidesurface of the portable terminal, the method comprising: receiving analarm event; determining a state of the portable terminal when receivingthe alarm event; determining whether to enter a silent alarm modeaccording to the determined state of the portable terminal; andoutputting event information according to the alarm event on theauxiliary display area when entering the silent alarm mode.
 26. Acomputer readable recording medium storing a program for execution by aportable terminal including a flexible display unit comprising a maindisplay area and an auxiliary display area, the program configured tofunction as: a unit that selectively outputs event information accordingto an alarm event on at least one of the main display area and theauxiliary display area of the flexible display unit according to a stateof the portable terminal.
 27. The portable terminal of claim 1, whereinthe auxiliary display area comprises a display area and a gap area. 28.The portable terminal of claim 27, wherein the display area is an areain which the event information is displayed, and the gap area is an areain which the event information is not displayed.
 29. The method of claim13, wherein the auxiliary display area includes a display area in whichthe event information is displayed, and a gap area in which the eventinformation is not displayed.
 30. A method for processing an event of aportable terminal including a flexible display area comprising a maindisplay area provided on a front surface of the portable terminal, andan auxiliary display area provided on a side surface of the portableterminal, the method comprising: receiving event information in a silentalarm mode; detecting a state of the portable terminal; and selectivelyoutputting event information on at least one of the main display areaand the auxiliary display area of the flexible display area according tothe detected state of the portable terminal.